Though AMC’s THE WALKING DEAD has horror fans’ pulses racing, eagerly anticipating the season three premiere, fright fans of a younger persuasion have an equally good, far less bloody and downbeat year three premiere to thrill to the night prior. Hub’s R.L Stine-penned series THE HAUNTING HOUR returns for its third season, bringing more dark, scary and disturbing kid friendly terror to the small screen, and its opening episode is a doozy.

There’s probably no filmmaker who has been as devoted to the cause of bringing Stephen King to the screen as Mick Garris. His seventh time at this particular bat is BAG OF BONES, a two-part TV movie premiering on A&E this Sunday, and it’s a noble effort that unfortunately doesn’t quite come off.

In only six episodes, the first season of AMC’s THE WALKING DEAD at once contained exciting promise and great disappointment. Losing its way in the second half of its short run, the series became something much broader, with fewer of the stellar intimate and nuanced moments it had strived for and achieved in its earlier segments. Thankfully, the first two installments of its sophomore season—“What Lies Ahead,” premiering this Sunday, October 16, and “Bloodletting,” following on Oct. 23—aim, with great success, to get the show back on track.

After watching the pilot episode of THE WALKING DEAD, I can say it’s almost a given that a good number of reviews in print and on-line will begin with some variation of “Wow.” And to be honest, it’s a hard urge to fight. In a time when most zombie tales amount to “fun” or “a good time,” it’s surprising and elating to witness one that leaves you on the verge of speechlessness—and just might do so on a weekly basis.

Reality TV made a name for itself based largely upon the people involved and their propensity to eat each other alive for an audience. The five-part British zombie-apocalypse miniseries DEAD SET, airing this month on the Independent Film Channel (IFC), takes that brutality to a whole other level.